Quotes of the day

posted at 8:01 pm on August 4, 2013 by Allahpundit

The White House said top administration officials gathered late Saturday over a terror threat that provoked the State Department to close more than 20 diplomatic posts and issue a worldwide travel alert.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice chaired a meeting with 12 administration officials including the secretaries of State, Defense and Homeland Security and the directors of the FBI, CIA and NSA, according to a White House statement…

The State Department’s travel alert said the threat was focused particularly in the Middle East and North Africa and was “possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula.” Yemen has become a central focus of the warnings.

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The terror threat prompting the U.S. government to close nearly two dozen embassies and consulates Sunday is the most specific, credible threat information in years, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reports.

What authorities don’t have is the date, the timing or the target of the attack, which is why they have taken such an approach to warning potential targets, Miller reports.

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On the day that almost two dozen U.S. embassies and consulates across North Africa and the Middle East are closed following the identification of a significant threat from an al-Qaeda affiliate, a senior U.S. official is providing new details about the communications intercepted from the terrorists, telling ABC News that al-Qaeda operatives could be heard talking about an upcoming attack. The official described the terrorists as saying the planned attack is “going to be big” and “strategically significant.”

“The part that is alarming is the confidence they showed while communicating and the air of certainty,” the official said, adding that the group – Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – appeared to have a media plan for after the attack…

“We do not know whether they mean an embassy, an airbase, an aircraft, trains,” the official said…

The official also said authorities were stunned that the group broke “operational security” – meaning they talked likely knowing it would be picked up by intercepts.

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The chatter among al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula operatives had gone on for weeks but increased in the last few days, the officials said…

The warnings also come as news has surfaced that al Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has appointed the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Nasser al-Wahishi, as his overall general manager of the terror network, Seth Jones of the Rand Corporation said…

Over the past month, prison breaks have taken place in nine Interpol member nations, the global police organization said in an alert this weekend.

“With suspected Al Qaeda involvement in several of the breakouts, which led to the escape of hundreds of terrorists and other criminals, the INTERPOL alert requests the Organization’s 190 member countries’ assistance in order to determine whether any of these recent events are coordinated or linked,” the group said in the statement Saturday…

The administration hasn’t answered McCormack’s question. In light of al Qaeda’s resurgence in Iraq, our withdrawal from Afghanistan, our fecklessness with respect to Syria, Libya, and elsewhere–and now the travel alert warning about the “potential for terrorist attacks, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa” and Sunday’s closing of 22 embassies across the Muslim world–the answer is becoming depressingly clear: Rebalance is a euphemism for retreat.

“When you look at this map of U.S. embassies that are closed, twenty-two of them, most of them across the Muslim world, when you hear this global warning to all Americans to take care, what do you think that says?” Crowley asked. “Since the mission of terrorists is to terrorize, in some sense do you feel as if they’ve already won?”

Quite frankly, I foresee multiple, simultaneous attacks on soft targets rather than on embassies if there is any merit to this chatter at all.

onlineanalyst on August 4, 2013 at 9:35 PM

They’re talking about surgically placed bombs…I’m flying next week and I’m in a walking boot, awaiting surgery on my ankle. The last time I went through TSA with a walking boot, they used a bomb sensing metal stick to shove into my boot, instead of allowing me to just remove it…and after being jabbed several times, I threatened to shove her little metal stick where she would have to see a doctor about….you tell these geniuses they have to check on ‘surgically planted bombs’, I’m planning to bring my own KY.
We just need to make the Middle East a parking lot and tell any other countries they’re next.

The only calls I am getting is from those with pre-ex and severe med conditions and no Employer benefits.
They are chomping at the bit for subsided cov.
Guess who isn’t calling? Those young healthy people
they need to participate. mmm mmm mmmm
that actuarial assessment is looking really ugly.

I am with you man. There is no “our side” for quite sometime. btw..your a Nazi, slave loving,heartless,wacko bird,bigot & hobbit. How dare you or anyone cry out for our border to be secure/visa’s or question the millions of illegal criminals that have invaded our country..How dare you!
Just shut up and bend over.

Granted, this is just a wag-the-dog conspiracy theory, at this point, but our government is so corrupt, who knows what to believe anymore?

FloatingRock on August 4, 2013 at 8:46 PM

Winner, winner, chicken fluking dinner!!! Trying to explain wtf is going on nowadays to a lo-fo is nigh impossible, I can barely keep up with it myself. Reminds me of the US Government in Snow Crash (they are not good guys). It’s like the news cycle has become a bad episode of The X-Files (the last season stuff with Doggit and Ruiz or whatever their names were).

(Reuters) – Western and Arab envoys met senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Khairat El-Shater on Monday at the jail where he is being held, Egypt’s state news agency reported on Monday, contradicting an earlier denial of a visit by the Interior Ministry.

The MENA agency cited an “informed source” as saying the envoys seeking to mediate an end to Egypt’s crisis had received permission from the prosecutor general to visit Shater.

The White House said top administration officials gathered late Saturday over a terror threat that provoked the State Department to close more than 20 diplomatic posts and issue a worldwide travel alert.

Misdirection.

Question is, will they actually do something to get the pressure of Benghazi off of them, or is this nonsense enough to change the subject?

National Security Adviser Susan Rice chaired a meeting with 12 administration officials including the secretaries of State, Defense and Homeland Security and the directors of the FBI, CIA and NSA, according to a White House statement…

Old Home Week! Figuring out how they can get to a mutually agreeable version of the truth in less than the 12 steps it took before Susan Rice lied her ass off about Benghazi.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice chaired a meeting with 12 administration officials including the secretaries of State, Defense and Homeland Security and the directors of the FBI, CIA and NSA, according to a White House statement…

National Security Adviser Susan Rice chaired a meeting with 12 administration officials including the secretaries of State, Defense and Homeland Security and the directors of the FBI, CIA and NSA, according to a White House statement…

Susan Rice – the pathological lying imbecile who went on, I belive it was 5 Sunday blab shows, and blamed Benghazi 9/11 on that obscure video. The only thing she could possibly properly chair would be an idiot clown show, and it looks like the heads of State, Defense, DHS, FBI, CIA and NSA would be her performing idiot clowns.

I would not believe a single thing any of them said and wouldn’t trust them to protect anything.

Incompetence is the easy answer, but there’s got to be Pros out there who could have managed this well in spite of the Administration.

I think the treat is real; so what gives?

Bruno Strozek on August 4, 2013 at 8:36 PM

Remember that we use local staff as security at these places, and unarmed at that.

The revelation that our Vienna embassy was spending money on electric charging stations while Benghazi went undefended frames the entire issue: we’re so fascinated by what “other people” might be saying about us that we prefer to spend money getting the right gossip instead of the right security.

Each and every one of our embassies ought to project the image of Fortress America, and we ought to fly the Gadsen Flag right under Old Glory. If the president wants to project a weak nation looking for attention, he’s free to drive around in an old Italian convertible when he visits other nations. And if that feels a little exposed and he prefers a hardened, blacked-out limotank, then we finally agree on something.

Granted, this is just a wag-the-dog conspiracy theory, at this point, but our government is so corrupt, who knows what to believe anymore?

FloatingRock on August 4, 2013 at 8:46 PM

One… they know it’s the biggest plot since 9/11 and they know the terrorists are in place.. and they know it’s al-Quida… but they don’t know where? We are all just helpless and all we can do is wait for something to blow up? I’ve never seen something like this before.

How could they know so much about who it is.. and that it’s going to happen real real soon.. and they know all the terrorists are in place… but they don’t know where that place is? What were they listening to? Where did the calls originate from and where were they sent to?

And if something really really big is about to happen.. maybe we ought to be water boarding somebody like right about now!

Gonna test it out soon. ‘Tis a Tauras .40S&W compact 10+1. Got two mags for the price. Dixie Gun and Knife show is great (also got a holster, and ammo is as expensive as I expected).

nobar on August 4, 2013 at 8:39 PM

I think you will like it… Taurus has a bad rap for quality, a leftover from their startup years. My favorite handgun is my Sig P220, but it is too damned big and heavy. My everyday carry gun is a 745 Millenium Pro 6+1 45 cal… Lots of thump in a very small package. I call mine “Thumper”…

Never shot the .40, but I would guess that it has a lot of snap, being polymer and lightweight. Practice a little, get used to it, and no limp-wristing… It should serve you well…

The end of democracy and the defeat of America will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations. When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty. When tyranny and oppression come to this land it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship. Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it. Rebellion to tyranny is obedience to God.

LYON, France – Following a series of prison escapes across nine INTERPOL member countries in the past month alone, including in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan, the INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters has issued a global security alert advising increased vigilance.

With suspected Al Qaeda involvement in several of the breakouts which led to the escape of hundreds of terrorists and other criminals, the INTERPOL alert requests the Organization’s 190 member countries’ assistance in order to determine whether any of these recent events are coordinated or linked.

INTERPOL is asking its member countries to closely follow and swiftly process any information linked to these events and the escaped prisoners. They are also requested to alert the relevant member country and INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters if any escaped terrorist is located or intelligence developed which could help prevent another terrorist attack.

Staff at INTERPOL’s 24-hour Command and Coordination Centre and other specialized units are also prioritizing all information and intelligence in relation to the breakouts or terrorist plots in order to immediately inform relevant member countries of any updates.

August is the anniversary of violent terrorist incidents in Mumbai, India and Gluboky, Russia as well as in Jakarta, Indonesia. This week also marks the 15th anniversary of the US Embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in which more than 200 mostly African citizens were killed and 4,000 others injured.

In recent years, terrorist attacks focusing on diplomatic facilities in Afghanistan, Greece, India, Kenya, Libya, Pakistan, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey and Yemen have also resulted in hundreds of casualties of all nationalities.

The US State Department has also issued a global travel alert in response to credible intelligence suggesting that Al-Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks between now and 31 August, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. In addition to the US authorities announcing the one-day closure of more than 20 diplomatic missions on Sunday 4 August, the UK Foreign Office has also confirmed the closure of the British embassy in Yemen on 4 and 5 August.

(Reuters) – Former U.S. envoy to Syria Robert Ford is being considered as Washington’s next ambassador to Cairo, sources familiar with internal discussions said on Sunday as U.S. and European mediators sought a peaceful resolution to Egypt’s crisis.

Ford was described as a leading candidate for the post, according to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. The State Department declined to comment and Ford did not respond to emails.

Ford, a fluent Arabic speaker, had antagonized Syria’s government with his high-profile support for demonstrators trying to end 41 years of rule by President Bashar al-Assad.

He was withdrawn from Syria briefly in October 2011 because of threats to his safety. He left Damascus for good four months later after the United States suspended embassy operations as the situation in Syria deteriorated.

In May 2013, he briefly crossed into northern Syria to meet with opposition leaders, the highest-ranking U.S. official to go into Syria since its war began.(More…..)
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CAIRO — Three top officials of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood will go on trial on Aug. 25, on charges of inciting members of their group to kill rioters in front of its headquarters during the upheaval that led to President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster on July 3, a Cairo court ruled on Sunday.(More…)
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Widespread U.S. embassy closures and travel alerts prompted by al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen show how the group has proved stubbornly resilient despite more than two years of American strikes against its leaders.

The State Department Sunday extended some embassy closures for the rest of the workweek, citing a need to “exercise caution” and take “appropriate steps” to protect American diplomats, local employees and visitors. Officials said the move wasn’t an indication that the U.S. had any new intelligence about the suspected plot or plots.

The high level of concern from U.S. officials underscores what many in the intelligence world have long warned. While al Qaeda’s central leadership may be weakened, the rest of the group has morphed into smaller entities and dispersed, which has made the threat harder to predict and track. This process was accelerated by the turmoil of the Arab Spring.

Officials briefed on the latest intelligence say the new warnings show that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, is as determined as ever to attack the West, but it is unclear whether the group is as capable of following through as it was before the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command started targeting its leaders in Yemen in parallel campaigns.

The deaths of Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda officials in Pakistan has fueled U.S. confidence that al Qaeda’s core leadership can’t mount attacks on the U.S. and that U.S. drone strikes there could be phased out over time. But al Qaeda affiliates, the most active of which is AQAP, have shown themselves to be increasingly capable and autonomous organizations, making it harder for the U.S. to track and target their leaders.

A major concern for the U.S. is AQAP’s chief bomb-maker—a Saudi citizen named Ibrahim al-Asiri—who is thought to still be at large and has been active both experimenting with new bomb designs and training other bomb-makers, according to American officials and analysts.

Beyond Yemen, al Qaeda in Iraq has reconstituted itself. Its branch in Syria is drawing in hundreds of foreign recruits each month. And in Mali, al Qaeda-linked fighters fled French warplanes and commandos and have set up a rudimentary base in the Libyan Desert outside Paris’s reach.

“The problem we face today is there are probably more al Qaeda cells and affiliates across the Arab world in 2013 than there have ever been before because of the chaos that’s followed the Arab Spring,” said Bruce Riedel, a Central Intelligence Agency veteran and now director of the Brookings Intelligence Project.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday the terrorism threat that led the Obama administration to close most U.S. embassies in the Middle East is more specific than other recent examples and was directed broadly at Western interests, not just those of the U.S. “There is a significant threat stream, and we are reacting to it,” Mr. Dempsey said in a Sunday interview with ABC News. The exact target of the planned terrorist attack was unspecified, but the aim was clear, Mr. Dempsey said.

On Friday, prompted by the intelligence, the Obama administration issued a world-wide travel alert for all of August.

Initially, U.S. intelligence suggested the attack or attacks could take place on Sunday. But officials believe the U.S.’s public disclosure of the suspected plot may have prompted militants to shift their timeline to a later date, a possibility reflected in Sunday’s decision to keep embassies closed longer.

A senior administration official described the potential threat as “significant.”

“This is probably one of the most specific and credible threats I’ve seen perhaps since 9/11,” said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R., Texas) on CBS News Sunday.

Mr. McCaul said the threat was notable because of the link to the al Qaeda faction in the Arabian Peninsula. “Their expertise is chemical explosives hitting the aviation sector,” he said.

A debate has been growing for months within U.S. counterterrorism and defense circles about whether U.S. pressure on AQAP is adequate to keep the group from launching new attacks, according to officials involved in the discussions.

A senior counterterrorism official cited concerns the Yemeni government may have curtailed some of its offensives against militants aligned with AQAP in recent weeks. Some intelligence officials believe that means the terror group has been freer to draw up plans to target the West.

American officials made clear to Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi during his visit to Washington last week that “counterterrorism cooperation needs to continue and you guys have to continue to take that threat seriously,” a senior administration official said.

A Yemeni official said he had heard no American complaints about Yemeni pressure on AQAP. The official cited a number of counterterrorism operations by Yemeni forces in June and July and noted that a major focus for American officials meeting with Mr. Hadi during last week’s visit was the pace of the country’s democratic transition.

The embassy closures and travel alerts followed the U.S.’s interception of communications between AQAP leaders who were overheard plotting new attacks against the U.S. and Western interests.

Such intercepted communications sometimes can be suspect because it is difficult to determine whether militants are describing real plans or trying to manipulate spy agencies who they think may be listening in on their conversations.

U.S. officials say they are more confident about the accuracy of the intelligence underpinning the current alerts because other so-called “threat streams” also point to stepped up AQAP plotting. “We get ‘chatter’ all the time. This is a convergence of multiple streams of reporting,” said a senior administration official.

Al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate has targeted U.S. airline and naval interests in the past and has an expertise in bomb making.

In 2012, the U.S. launched more than 40 drone and missile strikes against alleged AQAP targets in Yemen. So far this year, there have been approximately one dozen, according to Yemeni officials, who work closely with their U.S. counterparts to support these missions. The U.S. drone war in Yemen is highly unpopular in many parts of the country, as many locals see it as the indiscriminate use of force against rural populations living in the rugged, isolated country.

Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University, said the pummeling AQAP has taken from drone strikes may have led some outsiders to overestimate the extent to which the group’s operational capacities have been diminished.

The death of several high-ranking members of the group and the absence of any serious threats for more than a year “may have lulled us into thinking the threat from that group had passed,” he said.
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Petition calls for White House to declare Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group

By Perry Chiaramonte
Published August 04, 2013
FoxNews.com
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A new petition on the White House website asks the administration to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

The request was posted on petitions.whitehouse.gov on July 7 and quickly garnered more than the 100,000 signature requirement for the Obama administration to officially consider the request.

&quotDeclare Muslim Brotherhood organization as a terrorist group,&quot was written within days of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who drew much of his support from the group, being removed from power by the military in early July.

The petition states, “Muslim Brotherhood has a long history of violent killings & terrorizing opponents. Also MB has direct ties with most terrorist groups like Hamas.(More….)

“When you look at this map of U.S. embassies that are closed, twenty-two of them, most of them across the Muslim world, when you hear this global warning to all Americans to take care, what do you think that says?” Crowley asked. “Since the mission of terrorists is to terrorize, in some sense do you feel as if they’ve already won?”

Closed embassies? How about: every free US citizen who wishes to fly must undergo intrusive personal inspections whether they want to or not. And we can’t call it a war against Islam.